Igor Zhukov

Although he was born in Nizhny-Novgorod, Igor Zhukov’s family moved to Moscow less than a year later. During World War II the family was evacuated to Kirov (previously Vyatka), but by the time they were able to move back to Moscow young Igor was ready to begin his musical education.

He studied first at the Moscow Conservatory’s preparatory school, going to the Conservatory proper in 1955 where he studied first with Emil Gilels and then, a year later, with Heinrich Neuhaus. He had already won second prize at the Long-Thibaud Competition by the time he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, and in that year Zhukov played for the first time outside of Russia, in Hungary. He has since performed in Europe, Japan and the United States and regularly performed in Germany between 1981 and 1995.

During his career Zhukov has appeared as pianist and harpsichordist, as chamber musician with his trio (with Grigory and Valentin Feighin), as conductor with his Moscow Chamber Orchestra, as vocal accompanist, and as editor and arranger, known for his version of Bach’s Musikalisches Opfer. With his trio he has performed historic concerts (similar to those of his compatriot Anton Rubinstein in the solo repertoire) covering repertoire for piano trio from the seventeenth century to the twentieth century. Although Zhukov gave up conducting in 1994, he now also acts as a recording engineer.

Clearly a man of many talents, Zhukov has a piano repertoire which, while primarily nineteenth-century, also includes music from Bach to the twentieth century. His main area of concentration is the Russians: Tchaikovsky, Scriabin and Prokofiev; but he also excels in the music of Chopin.

Of Zhukov’s Melodya recordings, the most important are those of the complete music for piano and orchestra by Tchaikovsky recorded between 1968 and 1974 including an Allegro in C minor for piano and string orchestra, as well as his recordings of some of the same composer’s solo piano music. The pianist is not helped in some of the Tchaikovsky recordings by a harsh and brightly lit piano sound; he can play with a real beauty of tone. Zhukov has recorded other unusual Russian concertos by Rimsky-Korsakov and Balakirev, Medtner’s Piano Concerto No. 1 Op. 33 and Scriabin’s Fantaisie in A minor for piano and orchestra (orchestrated by Zinger). One other recording of interest is Zhukov’s performance of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat Op. 83 with the Moscow Radio Large Symphony Orchestra and Gennadi Rozhdestvensky. There is also a two-LP set of Zhukov playing Rameau on the harpsichord.

One of Zhukov’s finest achievements in the recording studio is his recording of the complete piano sonatas by Scriabin which he made in 1971. Zhukov is one of the finest Scriabin players of his generation and these were issued on LP in the West by Eurodisc. Recordings with his trio include works by Arensky and Glinka as well as Tchaikovsky’s Op. 50, recorded in 1974 and issued in the UK on LP by EMI. Zhukov appeared in BMG’s Russian Piano School Series as Volume 16 where recordings from 1959 to 1977 are included, featuring a wide variety of music including his own arrangement of Bach’s Passacaglia in C minor BWV 582 as well as Schumann’s Waldszenen Op. 82 and Prokofiev’s Children’s Music Op. 65. Zhukov has also appeared on compact discs from Danacord in recordings from the Schloss vor Husum Festival of Rarities of Piano Music. At the 1996 Festival he played Scriabin’s Twenty-four Préludes Op. 11 and Ravels’ La Valse.

In the mid 1990s the German label Live Classics issued two compact discs of Zhukov in recital in Munich. A Russian programme from 1993 includes Prokofiev’s Piano
Sonata No. 2 in D minor Op. 14 and an excellent group of Scriabin: Three Études Op. 65, the Piano Sonata No. 7 Op. 64 and stunning performances of the Piano Sonata No. 9 Op. 68 and Vers la flamme Op. 72. The other disc shows Zhukov in classical repertoire by Beethoven and Schubert, plus Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 9 in C major Op. 103.

Zhukov is an underrated artist in the West due to his rare appearances, yet a lunchtime recital at the Wigmore Hall in London in May 1998 where he gave deeply penetrating performances of Scriabin’s Piano Sonata No. 2 in G sharp minor Op. 19, Sonata No. 3 Op. 23 and Chopin’s Piano Sonata in B flat minor Op. 35 proved that he is a talented and sensitive artist.

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